Upon learning that the Dragon King had also found a woman he liked, the soldiers of the Great Snowmoutain army felt much relieved. They rubbed their hands with glee, eager to rush into the city to get their loot. They were so excited that most of them were up all night.
That night, Gu Shenwei did not sleep either. He forced himself to temporarily forget about Shangguan Ru, Maid Lotus and Old Man Mu and concentrate instead on how to deal with the Land of Fragrance.
Among all the views in the army, only Tuo Nengya’s opinion could be considered well-founded. The macheteman reminded the Dragon King that the Land of Fragrance could no longer be cut off from the outside world, as there was no way to make nearly 2,000 soldiers keep it a secret. Once the outside world knew about the existence of this richly-endowed country and the fact that it could be easily conquered, the powerful forces, such as the Golden Roc Fort, would swoop in, just like a group of predators attracted by a huge piece of fat meat.
Given that, sparing the people of Land of Fragrance out of mercy would probably lead to the country being conquered by the Supreme King. When that happened, the Golden Roc Fort’s strength would be further bolstered. This was not the result that Gu Shenwei wanted.
However, if he let his men carve up the country, this army he had built up to fight for supremacy in Western Region would be reduced to a bandit gang. This was not a result that he desired either, as a bandit gang would never be able to contend for hegemony with the Golden Roc Fort and Norland. He did not know much about military tactics and by far, he had led his army solely depending on his intuition and rudimentary military administration skills that he had learned back in the Central Plain during his childhood.
As such, he really wished that Fang Wenshi or Zhong Heng had come along with him and offered him some suggestions at this moment; how to deal with the easily-won loot in the Land of Fragrance was a test for him. His decision would determine the future of himself and the Great Snowmountain.
He knew this in his heart but did not how to express himself in words.
Swordsmen, machetemen and savages were the three major manpower sources of bandits in Western Region. In their eyes, it was a natural thing to divide the spoils fairly, and they would never understand or even be willing to understand the Dragon King’s plan and vision for his army. The Dragon King’s hesitation only made them suspect that he wished to keep all the loot for himself.
It was daybreak shortly after Gu Shenwei had sent out two teams to search for the antidote for Indra fragrance and Old Man Mu respectively. The nobles who were kept as hostages in the camp felt threatened under the greedy, watchful eye of the soldiers and the two tribal chiefs, who were able to speak Central Plains Chinese, went to the Dragon King’s tent early in the morning, begging for an audience.
After their request was approved, the two men walked into the tent on their knees and then kowtowed many times to the Dragon King, looking like chickens pecking at rice. They remained kneeling and kowtowed another dozen times even after he ordered them to get up, and they did so reluctantly. “Now that we’ve venerated you, the Dragon King, as our lord, we think we have to show our loyalty by actual deeds instead of speech. Although the Land of Fragrance is just a small and remote country, we still want to offer some financial support for your army. We’re willing to give half of our wealth to you, Dragon King,” one of the noble men said.
Upon seeing that the Dragon King gave no reply to the man, the other noble believed that the young lord was not satisfied with their offer and added. “We’ll also send 3,000 slave men and 3,000 slave women to serve you and your soldiers.”
“How could these nobles reckon that it’s natural to send 6,000 slaves to serve my army, which is not even 2000 strong? What was the ruling class thinking when they made their national policies? Did they really believe that just the surrounding mountains and forests could fend off all their enemies?” Gu Shenwei thought in astonishment.
Despite that, he still respectfully agreed to receive their presents in a bid to appease them before asking them to gather all the other nobles kept hostage in the camp for a meeting with the soldiers.
The excited soldiers were waiting under the rising sun for the Dragon King to announce his plan on how to distribute the spoils of war.
Gu Shenwei stood in the center of a vacant lot, and behind him were the 50 or so trembling nobles. He also had the few remaining boxes of gold and silver carried out and placed at his feet.
Upon seeing this, the soldiers nodded to one another with satisfaction, firmly believing that the Dragon King was going to divide the loot today. The hostages turned deathly pale, worrying that the Dragon King was still dissatisfied with their offer.
Unexpectedly, the Dragon King did not mention anything related to the loot. Instead, he said to his soldiers, “You’ve rested for such a long time. I want to see if your kung fu is still as good as before. Now, I want all the swordsmen to form a team, and the machetemen and guard troops to form another one. Each team will select 50 candidates for a duel. The winning team will be awarded, and the losers won’t be punished.”
The guard troops actually consisted of the conscripted savages but they were referred to as such now as they were under direct command of the Dragon King.
Engaging in kung fu competitions was one of the soldiers’ favorite activities. As soon as the order was given, several hundreds of them rushed to their respective leaders, requesting that to take part in the duel.
Many of them did not understand the Dragon King’s proposal at first, but when they noticed the frightened look on the hostages’ faces, they deduced that the Dragon King was planning to cow these nobles into submission.
Soon enough, the two teams picked out 50 soldiers each for the duel, and each team stood on one side of the Dragon King.
The Dragon King declared the start of the duel and both sides charged toward each other.
Despite the fact that the Dragon King had just promised not to punish the losing side, none of these soldiers wanted to lose since they could not tolerate the humiliation of defeat. More importantly, they assumed that the winning side would get a larger share of the loot, for the Dragon King had just promised an award for the winners.
As such, the soldiers took the mock battle very seriously. They fought with all their might even when confronted with their comrades and for some of them, even their best friends.
If the Dragon King had really intended to intimidate the hostages, he would have been very satisfied with the results of his plan: the nobles, who wore long soft robes and delicate waist belts, were now ashen-faced and trembling, as if they had been faced with predators. The nobles were so scared that they could only stand on their feet by holding and supporting one another.
Gu Shenwei and the tribal chiefs of the Great Snowmountain kept their eyes on the fight. They did not mind that the participants got injured, but they had to make sure that none of them got killed.
Gu Shenwei stopped the fight when the outcome was starting to be clear.
Not surprisingly, the 50 swordsmen won the fight. The machetemen and the conscripted savages were not as strong as the swordsmen and they did not work well with each other, so their defeat was within everyone’s expectations.
When the winners looked at the Dragon King expectantly, waiting for him to announce their awards and his plan, he had the gold and silver in the boxes taken out and roughly divided into 50 shares and said, “Come get your award. Each of you will get a share of the money together with a hostage. They’re yours now.”
The soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment; these awards were totally different from what they had expected. The amount of money offered was quite good, but it belonged to the army instead of the Land of Fragrance. As for the hostages, they were just a bunch of feeble men. None of the swordsmen were interested in them.
On the contrary, the nobles had very high opinions of themselves. They were the most powerful and wealthy people in the Land of Fragrance and could hardly imagine working as slaves for the barbarians. They assumed that the Dragon King must have wanted to squeeze more money out of them by doing so and wailed as they knelt to beg for his mercy. They offered to pay a ransom for their release and kept increasing the price until it was several times more than their own assets.
Upon hearing their pleas, the swordsmen swarmed toward the nobles. Compared to these super-rich people, the small piles of gold and silver at the Dragon King’s feet were nothing now.
Gu Shenwei remained unmoved no matter how the noble hostages implored him. When all of the 50 swordsmen got their hostages and money, he issued a command which surprised everyone present. “The winners, carry your hostages on your backs and pick up your money.”
The swordsmen had already packed the gold and silver and held their packages in hand. However, they were reluctant to carry the hostages. “Aren’t they our slaves now? Why do we have to carry our slaves on our backs?” they wondered.
Despite their doubts about the order, the swordsmen still carried it out, one after another. They were annoyed as the hostages kept crying on their backs; they really wished to kill these weeping men with their swords.
“Does anyone of you want to give up his awards?” the Dragon King asked loudly.
The swordsmen all shook their heads, smiling; no one wanted to give up the awards.
“Good, now you’ll fight another mock battle while carrying your prizes.”
Everyone was stunned by this order from the Dragon King.
With hostages on their backs and money in their hands, the swordsmen could only fight with one hand. It was not a hard thing for them to wield a heavy sword with one hand, but when their opponent was not some disorderly mob but a group of battle-seasoned soldiers, they did not stand any chance of winning.
All the people in the camp were perplexed about what the Dragon King wanted to do. The soldiers were struck speechless, and the hostages stopped wailing.
“The duel begins! Once your hostage and money drops to the ground, you’ll be deemed a loser.”
Some people in the camp gradually came to understand what the Dragon King intended to do, but some swordsmen still declined to back down and rushed forward to fight their opponents with one hand.
The outcome of this fight was easy to predict, as no swordsman could defeat his opponent while carrying a hostage on back and a package of gold and silver in hand. They either took the initiative to drop their prizes amid the fighting or were forced to do so when they could no longer take their opponents’ attacks.
Gu Shenwei thought that it was time to voice his thought now. “Look, my soldiers, what’s the point of owning the money and the slaves? They’re a burden which may cause you to be killed in a battle and they can be snatched away at any minute.”
His statement dampened the enthusiasm of his soldiers, but he still had to say something else to raise their spirits. “Our enemy is the Supreme King. I’ve vowed to the Empyrean that I’ll capture Golden Roc Fort within three years. One year has already passed by now. Have we achieved our goal? Can you tell me?”
“No, we haven’t.” Only a few people in the crowd answered the question.
“Do you want to admit defeat and hide forever in this place or wage war against the Supreme King once again?”
“We want war.” This time, more people replied to the Dragon King’s question.
“Do you want to go to war while carrying your slaves and money or fight without any burden on you?”
“We want to fight without burden!” All the soldiers now understood his meaning and shouted in unison.
The swordsmen left their awards on the ground without looking back at them at all.
The hostages were the only ones who found it hard to comprehend this situation. They felt much relieved after being unexpectedly rescued from a desperate situation, but they did not understand the Dragon King’s words or his soldiers’ reactions. “Are these barbarians insane? They happily chose to go to war instead of owning slaves and money,” thought the nobles.
Among the crowd, a daring macheteman, who did not consider the Dragon King as a god like the swordsmen and the conscripted savages did, asked the Dragon King, “We’re soldiers and may die in any battle. Why not let us enjoy ourselves before going to war?”
Gu Shenwei was well aware that not many soldiers could always resist the temptation of women and money. They might be able to do so, when they occasionally enjoyed themselves before the battles. Nevertheless, as time went by, this kind of life-style would morally corrupt them and make even the most valiant swordsman from the Great Snowmountain feel hesitant to charge during a battle.
Gu Shenwei had a clear understanding of the issue, but he did not speak it out directly. He chose another way to persuade his soldiers. “Good question, all of us may die in a battle. You could. He could. So could I. You can relax yourself by indulging yourself once in a while, but that’s just temporary. As long as the Golden Roc Fort still stands, we’ll never be able to enjoy our lives in peace. Now, you’re faced with a chance. Once we win the war, destroy the Golden Roc Fort and preside a vast land with a large population, we’ll be able to enjoy ourselves to the utmost and pass this on to our future generations. We’re gambling with our lives now. If we lose, we’ll be slaughtered on the battlefield. If we win, we’ll be able to enjoy a lasting peace. Are you willing to fight for total victory in war together with me?”
“Yes, yes!” shouted the soldiers. They were completely convinced by the Dragon King’s potent arguments.
After the shouts subsided, Long Xiaoshi, the tribal chief of Danduo Peak pointed at the hostages, who had crumbled to the ground, while saying, “What about them? Are we going to ditch them here?”
Gu Shenwei himself did not want any slave. Neither did he plan to leave the slaves for someone else.
“All the men aged 15-50 from the Land of Fragrance, noble or slave, must join the army and learn how to fight in a battle,” said Gu Shenwei.
This was his plan to deal with the Land of Fragrance: turning its obedient residents into professional soldiers. When that happened, they were no longer a burden but a rich source of military manpower.